The European Union is going to force gaming companies to implement age verification for online games

Officials explain the mass collection of personal information as an attempt to protect children.

The European Parliament will consider the EU Kids Act bill on Thursday, which could significantly change the rules for accessing online services for users in EU countries. The document aims to protect children from potentially dangerous content and provides for the introduction of stricter age verification.

According to Euractiv, citing documents obtained, the law will oblige social media and video service operators to verify the user's age when creating a new account. At the same time, the requirements may extend not only to social platforms.

In particular, age verification is planned to be applied to AI chatbots and some online games that will be recognized as potentially dangerous for minors. However, industrial artificial intelligence systems, office AI tools, and educational online services are not expected to fall under these requirements.

It is not yet clear which games will be classified as “risky for minors” and what methods of age verification will be used. However, if the bill is passed as proposed, European players may in the future be required to prove their age to access certain games and related features.

The European initiative comes amidst other similar measures. For example, since April, Sony has been gradually implementing age verification in the UK and Ireland for access to certain PlayStation online features, including voice chat, messaging, and broadcasts. Depending on the country, users may be offered different methods of identity verification – from face scanning and phone numbers to ID cards.

A similar system has already appeared on Steam in Australia. In early September, Valve began requiring users to confirm that they are 18 years old to access R18+ rated games. At the same time, Australian players need to add a valid bank card issued in Australia to their account for such verification.